As kids, long before becoming risk managers or claim adjusters, we fantasized about becoming someone else when we grew up–a fireman, astronaut, or even an NFL quarterback. Personally, none of these worked for me. Fire makes me nervous. Astronaut diapers and love triangles were turnoffs. At 5'7″ tall, I bear no resemblance to Peyton Manning.

How about the prospect, though, of someone else becoming . . . you? For many people nowadays, this is no fantasy. It is a nightmare. Identity theft is a growing problem in the digital age. It has become one of the big risks to manage in our personal lives. In fact, it looms as one of the huge personal risk management challenges to address.

Identity theft is the prime reason consumers filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission in 2006. In that year, 36 percent of all complaints were for identity theft. Credit card fraud is the commonest variety of identity theft, according to the FTC, followed by phone or utilities fraud and bank fraud. Identify theft is a huge problem and growing. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 10 million Americans have their identities stolen annually. While high-tech methods get lots of press, and Internet-based fraud is rampant, studies show that more fraud happens in "physical channels," like theft of a bank statement or wallet, not online.